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A DORAL HOTEL InCl110randuln to ] eb Magruder ffOlTI his assIstant AlVIn Snyder on F ebruarv 24, 1 971, had noted: The Cronkite N e\vs wants to do a piece on our domestic PR operation, in- cluding interviews ,vith Ed IVlorgan and Chuck Colson... Dan Rather is being assigned to the piece, and may make dI- rect approaches... in an attempt to set up a filming schedule. r t appears obvious that CBS is out to do a lob on us, and I am sure you ,viII agree that it would not be in our best in- terest to open anything up to them I think the only person who should see Rather is Herb Klein. One morning in April, 1 971 , John Ehrhc}l111an, of the White House, who had COl11e to New York to appear on <:t "CBS Morning News" progral11, had breakfast with Richard Salan t, the president of CBS News. i\.ccording to accounts that circulated in the press, Ehrliclu11an cOl11plained that the re- porting of Rather-along with that of DanIel Schorr-was biassed against the Adl11inistration, and asked in ostensibly jocular fashion whether Rather couldn't be reassigned to a CBS bureau in Austin. Subsequently, in Washington, Rath- er hÏ111self was called to a meeting at the White House with Ehrlic}u11an and Haldel11an, both of whom openly ac- cused hÏ111 of biassed reporting. Hal- del11an declared that what concerned hÏ111 was that although Rather was .. " SOl11etlmes Inaccurate, you sound lIke you know what you're tdlking about- people believe you." Which they shouldn't, Ehrlic}l111an added. And Ehrlic}l111an said that whereas only the President, Haldel11an, and sOl11etÏ111es he hÏ111self knew what was actually going on in the White House, televi- sion viewers were always seeIng IZath- er "out there on the WhIte House lawn talkIng as though vou know what's going on." To the cOl11plaints ahout hÏ111 frol11 the Adl11inistration Rather had consistently re- acted in his usual fairl}' cool fashion, but at the Presidential press conference in Houston it seel11ed that he had allowed himself to be provoked into displaying the antagonism he was accused of. To SOl11e extent, this loss of composure hurt Rather profession- ally. Within a week of the Houston press conference, I have been told, de- l11ands or strong suggestions were made to top CBS l11anagel11ent frol11 between ten and twenty CBS affiliated stdtions that Rather be rel110ved from his job as \Vhite House correspondent for the network. The l11ail cOl11ing into CBS News from VIewers was also heavily unfavorable to R<:tther. Shortly elf tel the Houston press conferenc<:, R..lthcl l () !f: ) l -; . -... -..- MARCH I 7 , I 9 7 5 disappeared frol11 the screen for se\- eral Jays. The CBS people said after- ward that he held been on vacdtioll. \Vhen he returned, reporters were un- able to clrrange interviews with hiln. "\Ve're hiding Rather," Sanford So- colow, the chief of the CBS X CV\ s \Vashington bureau, told a journalic;t who had asked that an interview with Rather he arranged. Socolow e'\.- plained, "R<:tther wants to he laid off frol11 all this seconddr) publicit\, around hÏ111, 'lside frol11 his just want- ing to get on with his job. \\T e don't like all this intense Interest 111 Rathcr, and neither does he. He's getting to be as bIg as a l110vie star. I'm in charge of protecting hil11. \Vhat he says he's go- ing to say on CBS News." Ilut these attel11pts to discourclge the focus of press attention on Rather did not ..lh..ltc pressures on CBS frOl11 man) of its elf- filiated stations-a subject on which the CBS News l11anagement was even l110re sensitive than on the subject of Rather. \Vhen I visited Richard S<l- lant last year and asked for inform..t- tion on the relations between the net- work's news organization and Its affiliates, I found hÏ111 uncommunic..l- . " 1 d ' lk b ." tIve. on t want to ta a out It, Salant said firmly. "I don't want to talk about our relations with our affili- ates, because the view held very strong- ly by the affiliates themselves is th<lt any differences should be discussed be- tween us, and not taken outside. t\nd so 1'111 just not going to talk about } 1 ." t leSe re atIons. Salant did reveal, 'It least by Ï111plica- tion, sOl11ethIng of the tension eÀisting between the CBS News management and the affilIated stations in a speech he delivered in mid-May of 197+ at a session of the network's an- nual affiliates' conference. In his speech, he conceded th<lt "there are a not insignificant numher of you-I don't ddre conduct a poll of juSt how l11any-who etre disturhed h) what we at CBS News do, ..tnd don't 1 ". h k ' ( 0 In t e networ s news trecltn1ent. Speaking of the criticism of Dan Rath- er that arose in particular out of the exchange at the Presidential press con- ference in Houston, Salant said, "I, and all of us, including, I suspect, 1)..111 Reither, wish it hadn't happened." But he went on to praise Rather's reporting ability, and declared, "In all the cir- CUl11stances, 1 do not feel that I would be justified in responding to the sug- gestion that I terl11inate Of re..1ssign Dan. . . . I cannot do wha t I belieye to be wrong." And he insisted that al- though "there are many people, and SOlne of you, who violently disc:lgree